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For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
Psalms 83:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
  • BSB See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.
  • NKJV For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
  • NASB For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves.
  • NLT Don’t you hear the uproar of your enemies? Don’t you see that your arrogant enemies are rising up?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God's enemies are in an uproar and those who hate Him lift their heads in defiance. The threat against Israel is ultimately a rebellion against God.

Overview

The psalmist sees the surrounding nations not merely as Israel's foes but as God's enemies, raising their heads in proud hostility. This reframes the conflict around God's honor and rule. It assures believers that opposition to God's people is opposition to God Himself, who will not let such defiance stand.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Ps 81:15The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.
  • Matt 27:24When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
  • Isa 17:12Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
  • Judg 8:28Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
  • Jer 1:19And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
  • Isa 37:29Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
  • Acts 16:22And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
  • 2 Kgs 19:28Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
  • Ps 74:23Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
  • Acts 22:22And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
  • Acts 19:28–41And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
  • Dan 5:20–23But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
  • Acts 17:5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
  • Acts 4:25–27Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
  • Ps 2:1–2Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
  • Ps 93:3The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
  • Acts 23:10And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
  • Ps 75:4–5I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
  • Acts 21:30And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
  • Isa 37:23Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
  • Ps 74:4Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 83:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 83:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.